Teaching Responsibility
LJMU Schools involved in Delivery:
Humanities and Social Science
Learning Methods
Lecture
Online
Seminar
Module Offerings
6105HIST-SEP-MTP
Aims
1. To critically engage with arguments concerning the place of the press in British society through an historical study, providing context to the current state of the mass media.
2. To consider the impact of the commercial imperative in history as a multifaceted influence on the progress of events, i.e. the socio-cultural impact of business driven initiatives.
3. To assess the influence of the press on political consciousness in Britain in the modern era.
4. To chart popular engagement in the political process versus growing apathy and an obsession with ‘celebrity’.
Learning Outcomes
1.
Apply a rigorous appraisal of the press in modern Britain that places it in a clear chronological framework and extends students’ knowledge through detailed study.
2.
Examine critically the place of the press in British society versus mythological representations.
3.
Employ a post-structuralist approach to the study of media history that understands the inter-play between press, politics and the people.
Module Content
Outline Syllabus:Introduction to the study of media history.
Background: The Radical Press, 1790 – 1820.
The birth of the popular press, 1855 – 1896.
The Northcliffe Touch.
The First World War: a discreditable period in the history of journalism?
The inter-war period: the abdication of responsibility.
The Second World War: people’s press and people’s war.
The post-war world: the triumph of commercialism.
The sixties: a golden age?
1970s and 1980s: a new generation of ‘press barons’
Conclusion and overview of course.
Module Overview:
This module is designed to challenge the notion of a free and independent press as a vital component of British democracy.
This module is designed to challenge the notion of a free and independent press as a vital component of British democracy.
Additional Information:This module is designed to challenge the notion of a free and independent press as a vital component of British democracy. In the face of a contemporary press lambasted for its obsession with celebrity and shallow entertainment, it traces its roots back to the repeal of Stamp Duty in 1855 and the consequent growth of a market driven press. In a broader context, it questions socio-cultural roles and questions the extent to which we have the press we deserve.